Make Drugs For Chronic Diseases Affordable

The Head of the Respiratory Department of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Audrey Forson, has called on the government to put drugs for the treatment of chronic diseases on the approved list of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). She made the statement at ceremony to introduce affordable and portable respiratory equipment by Philips Respironics onto the Ghanaian market. According to Dr Forson, despite the fact that on paper there were many drugs covered under the NHIS, the reality was that people with asthmatic conditions were denied access to drugs because they were expensive. Under the circumstances, she had called on the government to improve accessibility to drugs for chronic diseases by making them available and affordable. She further urged the government to train more specialists in the treating of chronic diseases. Dr Forson urged experts in the medical field to share information with colleagues in order to avoid giving patients conflicting reports. The Regional Sales Manager of Philips, Mr Aziz Rihani, said the introduction of the respiratory products onto the Ghanaian market was motivated by the desire to make the work of service providers easy. He said Philips intended to work closely with the Ghanaian medical community to improve health services and provide products that would match the financial capacity of the people. He said Philips would continue to provide high quality medical equipment at competitive prices.